The Dragon's Orb

By HeyKoolAid

The Shiny Orb of Hope
Part II

"This is just great," Cloud growled, pacing back and forth in front of Justin, Jacob, and Cassie. "One minute I'm this close to the dragon and now, I find myself trapped in this…room. Who knows where the hell we're at!"

Justin and Cassie exchanged glances. "Well, he seems pissed," Justin whispered to her.

Cassie nodded in agreement. "Yeah, well this time, I'm not waiting around for Zack to bust us out. I think we can do this ourselves."

Jacob got up and stuck his head out of the room. There were two guards guarding each room in the hallway. Who knows how many were around the corner on the far end, or if there were hundreds of hallways just like this. The nearest guard glared dangerously at Justin, obviously stating, "I dare you to come closer."

"There's several other rooms like this guarded with those demons," Jacob said, turning around and sitting back down by Justin.

"So what's going on with you guys?" Cloud asked, sitting down in the middle of the room. "I know you guys are able to travel between worlds somehow, but how did that all start?"

"Well, it all started when Marsilio threatened me," Jacob explained. "And when Zack showed up, he told us he kidnapped our parents and wanted us to do something for him. You know how cliché that is?"

"What, hold somebody for ransom while you run around trying to get what the kidnapper wants?" asked Justin.

At that moment, a figure walked into the doorway, casting a dark shadow within the room. Everyone turned to meet this stranger, someone who obviously has some kind of importance, since the guards were dismissed. The man had long silver hair, icy blue eyes, and wore a black cape that matched his black armor. He had quite a long sword at his side, and it didn't take an explanation to know that this man was a dangerous fighter.

Cloud suddenly jumped up. "Sephiroth! What are you doing here?! You're supposed to be dead!"

Sephiroth smiled evilly. "Well then, there's no need to introduce myself," he said. "I trust you're all being treated fairly well? I hope the guards haven't been mean to you at all."

"Cut the crap and get to the point," Cloud growled.

Sephiroth looked at Cloud. "Quite a team you picked out, Cloud. What happened to your other friends?"

"Do you know Marsilio?" Cassie asked.

Sephiroth slowly turned and met Cassie's gaze. He stared deeply into her eyes, searching for something. "Possibly," he replied, not looking away. They were like this for almost a minute until Justin got in the way.

"I seen you before," he said. "What were you doing on Earth?"

Sephiroth examined Justin for a moment and then turned and began to leave. "Oh, I would like to be the one to tell you that your friend Zack is trapped in the cavern with the dragon. And it's been a long time since the dragon had a meal…" Sephiroth began laughing and left the room.

"Oh, god…" Cassie whispered, staring at the spot where Sephiroth was once standing. "He's gonna die…"

Cloud headed towards the door. "What the hell is he doing here?" he asked, his hands twitching as he spoke.

"You two know each other?" Jacob asked, standing up.

Cloud suddenly punched the wall, making the other three jump. "We killed him! I'm sure of it! But how…how is he alive?"

"Hey, Cloud…do you know that Sephiroth fellow?" Jacob asked again.

"That's right," Cloud replied, nodding his head. He turned to Justin. "You said you seen him?"

Justin nodded his head. "That's right. I was in the library and he came storming in. I hid underneath some tables and stuff, hoping he wouldn't see me. I just thought I was seeing things…you know…too much shrooms…"

Cloud raised an eyebrow. "Shrooms?"

"Don't ask," Jacob quickly cut in. "Justin, do you have any weapons in that coat of yours?"

Justin grinned. "Of course! As long as they don't take it, we're good to go!" He opened his coat and pulled out a huge sword. "This one goes to Cloud," he said, handing it to Cloud.

Cloud examined the sword and nodded his head. "I like this," he said, swinging it around, causing everyone around him to duck out of the way. "You all ready to bust out of this joint?"

---------

"This is just great…" Andi muttered to herself as she wandered around the cave for what seemed like days. "First I lose Cassie, now I can't find my way back…" She continued walking, stopping at each intersection to check and make sure nothing was coming her way. Her P-90 ran out of ammo, but it still worked as an effective weapon, especially when it came to bashing these monsters' skulls with it.

'There's gotta be an easier way to do this,' Andi thought to herself, turning down another hallway. It seemed to go on forever. 'Mom and Dad are so going to kill me…but then again, they could be among the missing…'

She came upon a wide open space, and three different tunnels to choose from. Andi let out an exasperated sigh. "God, this keeps getting better and better!" There was a noise behind her and she quickly spun around, expecting some kind of secret wall to have appeared, but instead, a small band of monsters were heading their way.

"This is just great…" Andi said, her heart beginning to beat faster. She closed her eyes to relax herself and the pictures from the magic book suddenly came into focus. If she could put those into use, she could have a good chance to fight the monsters. However, most of the spells she remembered were recovery spells, and nothing like what Cassie was using. "And Cassie still has that book," Andi muttered to herself. She shook her head and faced the monsters. "All right you scumbags, let's get this done and over with."

When the first monster reached her, she easily knocked it aside with a hollow 'CLANK' from the P-90. The next wave of monsters attacked when they saw their comrade fall. Three monsters came at her, and she jumped back. Then, as the one to her left lunged at her, she whacked it across the face, stunning it. Spinning around, Andi slammed the butt of the weapon into the next monster. Then, another monster grabbed a hold of her arm and bit into it.

Andi let out a scream. "AAAAHHHH!!! GOD DAMMIT!!" She dropped the P-90 and punched this monster in the face. The monster backed off, but her right hand now hurt like hell. And along with that, her left arm was bleeding heavily. "I'm going to remind Zack to give me hazardous pay for this."

She quickly picked up the P-90 and spun around, whacking yet another monster in the face. Catching a quick glimpse down the hallway, Andi noticed that it was jam packed with monsters. "Aw crap!" She looked down at the P-90 and noticed that it was broken.

"That doesn't look good," she said and threw the gun at the monsters. As soon as she done that, she turned to head down one of the paths, but before she could reach any of them, a stunned monster reached out, grabbed her leg, and pulled her down to the ground. She began kicking it, and not until after the monster clawed her leg several time, she finally got it to loosen it's grip.

"Finally," she said dully. She had some trouble standing up, but when she managed to get up, she tried to get away as fast as she could. As she limped off to the nearest path, an explosion suddenly shook the cavern and knocked her down with much force that she hit her head on the ground. Andi was unconscious.

---------

Justin, Cassie, and Jacob were following Cloud through the caverns when they heard an explosion. They stopped for a moment and looked at each other, thinking that something had gone wrong. "What was that?" Cassie asked Justin.

Justin shrugged his shoulders. "Dunno. Could be anything."

Cloud turned around, his weapon at the ready. "Hey, now's not the time to stop! We've gotta find your friends!"

Jacob coughed and shook his head. "Yeah, we know," he said, his voice scratchy. "I'm not feeling so well right now though…"

"Cassie, can you carry Jacob?" Cloud asked. "Justin, you'll have to help me fight these monsters off."

Justin nodded his head and walked up next to Cloud. Cassie put a hand on Jacob's shoulder. "You all right?" she asked.

Jacob coughed again, this time, more seriously. Blood splattered against the wall from his cough and Cassie took a few steps back. "Uhh…Cloud?"

"Just go!" Jacob yelled. He staggered forward a few paces, using the wall to steady himself. "Something's happening, and you guys need to get out of here! I don't want to hurt you!"

Justin and Cassie made a move towards Jacob, but he let out a nasty snarl and tried to claw at Justin. "Dammit, just go!" he snarled. His whole body began transforming slowly into the form of a werewolf.

"We'll be back for you, buddy," Justin said, grabbing Cassie by her arm and dragging her behind him.

"We can't leave him here!" Cassie protested. Justin looked at Cloud and shrugged his shoulders.

The three had reached a fork in the road, and they stopped. Justin turned to Cassie. "Look, he can take care of himself. Once we find the prisoners, we can go back for him. By now, I'm sure Zack as found Marcus and his friend Carlos and has taken care of them. He's expecting us to get our job done now."

Cassie glared at Justin, obviously not agreeing with him. "We will come back for him then?"

"That's the idea," Justin replied. He turned around to tell Cloud to go, but they were not alone in the small room. A figure appeared out of no where, blocking their path. Cloud had his sword out and ready. "Who are you?" he demanded.

"Don't hurt me! It's Rob!"

"Do you know him?" Cloud asked. His grip on the sword hadn't relaxed. In fact, Justin thought he was going to chop Rob up in several unidentified pieces.

"Uh…" Rob thought for a moment. "Let's just say I'm a friend of Zack."

"Yeah, I remember you," Justin said. He motioned Cloud to lower his sword. "It's okay, I trust this guy after what we've been through."

"Let's get down to business," Rob said. "Zack and Marcus has already met, but there's no sign of Carlos. Marcus escaped, and the dragon has broken free of the cavern. Because of all the commotion, Carlos and Marcus have left this Realm by now."

Justin let out a frustrated groan. "What the hell?! Why do you bring us bad news?"

"If you would let me finish…" Rob replied, glaring at Justin. "…I'm about to take you guys to the prisoners now, if you would like."

"That'd be great!" Cassie replied. "How many prisoners are we talking about?"

"I know Marsilio made it seemed like your whole school had gone missing, but he had tricked your minds," Rob said. Justin and Cassie glanced at each other. "Everyone's fine, the only people that are here are Zack's parents, Danielle, and Cassandra's mother."

"My mom's here?!" Cassie asked, a confused look on her face.

Rob nodded his head. "Yes. Marsilio went ahead and took at least one thing you hold dear. He only messed with your mind and made you think everybody disappeared."

"What a tricky son of a bitch," Cloud said, more to himself than to anybody around him.

Rob turned and began heading down the leftmost hallway. "This way," he said, motioning everyone to follow him.

Everyone followed Rob down the hallway and it twisted around one way and the other. After about ten minutes, they emerged in a small, circular room, with jail cells lined along the wall. Each cell was big enough to hold at least ten people, but as the four approached the cell on the far end of the room, there were three figures huddled in a corner in the cell. They stood up when they were approached.

"Mom?!" Cassie said in surprise when she saw her mother's face in the light.

Noemi Flores was just a little shorter than Cassie, but the two looked the same. She had dark auburn hair down to her shoulders. Her blue eyes shone with life as she smiled at Cassie. If it weren't for the slight wrinkles in her face, and Cassie's green eyes, the two could be mistaken for twins.

"Cassie!" Noemi said. "What a surprise!"

Rob, Justin, and Cloud looked at each other with a raised eyebrow, noticing the resemblance between the daughter and mother. Justin stepped forward and cleared his throat. "Excuse me…" Everyone turned their attention to Justin. "…I don't mean to interrupt any family reunions or anything, BUT we do have to find Zack and Andi."

Mrs. Scott suddenly ran up to the cell door. "Where is my son?!" she asked hysterically. "Is he okay?!"

Rob nodded his head. "Yes, Zack is fine. We just got cut off from him, that's all. We need to get you guys back to Earth though."

"What do you mean?" asked Danielle. "We're not on Earth anymore?"

"No, we're in a different Realm," Justin explained. "We thought everybody at school had been kidnapped, but apparently it was only you four and Marsilio was playing mind games with us."

"Marsilio? Mind games?" Mr. Scott looked at the four with a confused look. "What are you guys talking about? You're not talking about the Marsilio I work with?"

Rob shook his head. "Look, there's no time. We'll explain it on our way back. Now, if you will, please stand back from the door so I can get you three out."

As the three stood back, Rob stepped forward and easily dislodged the door from it's hinges. It fell to the ground with a dull 'thud'. "This way," he said, bowing low.

"How are we going to get back to Earth without the remote?" Justin asked, escorting Danielle out of the cell. "Zack has the remote."

Rob laughed, causing everyone to glare at him. "They don't call me an "Ancient" for nothing!" he said with a huge grin on his face. "I can do things with a wave of the hand, or in a blink of an eye!"

"But how do we know if we can trust you?" Cloud asked. He still had his sword gripped in one hand. Rob eyed his hand carefully. "Well…if you've helped us out this far, I suppose you're not so bad after all."

Danielle approached Rob and eyed him carefully. Rob stared back, wondering why she was studying him. She then asked, "Andi was with you guys?"

"Yeah," Rob replied, nodding his head. "Don't know where she is though."

Danielle looked at the ground. "Oh…I was wondering, 'cuz there was an explosion earlier…"

Rob suddenly slapped himself on the forehead. "Oh, great! The dragon! I forgot!"

"There's a dragon here?!" Noemi cried out, her eyes widening. Cassie began calming her mother.

"Ok, you four…" Rob pointed at Noemi, Danielle, and the Scotts. "…you need to get back to Earth…" He then turned to Cloud, Justin, and Cassie. "…and you three need to come with me to find Zack and Andi."

"Don't forget Jacob," Cassie said.

"Jacob's here too?!" Mrs. Scott said. Everyone looked at her and she looked as if she was about to faint. "Oh, the horrors I've heard about this place!"

Rob's eyes widened. "So, he's missing too? Holy crap! You guys are fired!"

"Hey, he was turning into a werewolf," Cloud said. "What else would you want us to do?!"

"Jacob's a werewolf?!" Mr. Scott asked. "What have you guys been doing?"

Rob closed his eyes for a moment. Everyone thought he was thinking, but deep down, he was concentrating on trying to pinpoint everybody's location. After a minute, he opened them. "Okay, you four will have to wait here," he said, pointing at the parents and Danielle. "This shouldn't take too long. Myself, Cassie, and Justin will find our missing friends. Cloud…you make sure nobody gets in this room."

Cloud nodded his head. "You got it, boss."

Rob glared at Cloud. "Don't call me boss."

"Can I come?" Danielle asked. "If you're going to find Andi, I want to…"

"No, sorry, you can't," interrupted Rob. "I can't endanger your lives. It wouldn't look good on my record."

Danielle looked at Rob with a raised brow. With a wave of his hand, Rob began walking off with Cassie and Justin. "We'll be back!" Cassie called back to her mother.

---------

Rob led Justin and Cassie through the twisting caves. Cassie had lost all her bearings after they left the jail cell area and as they continued twisting and turning, she began to feel dizzy and nauseated. She stopped for a moment and put her hand on the wall to steady herself.

"You okay?" Justin asked as he bumped into her. "Need a break?"

Cassie was panting. "I'm not feeling so well," she replied. "I need some water."

Rob suddenly appeared and approached Cassie. "You look sick," he stated. The two glared at him and Rob merely shrugged it off. "We're not far from Andi now. Just around the bend, really, at the fork."

Cassie suddenly grabbed Rob by his shirt. "If…you mention…bends and twists AGAIN…I will have to kill you…"

Rob chuckled and removed Cassie's hand. "I'll have to take your word on that," he said, straightening out his shirt. "I've been threatened many times, but this time…I believe you."

"You say the fork is just up ahead?" Justin asked. Rob nodded his head, "Think you can make it that far, Cassie?"

Cassie nodded her head. "Yeah, I'm starting to feel a little better. Maybe Andi can help me out."

The three began moving again, a little slower than before. When they arrived at the fork, they could see that the rest of the paths were blocked in by a pile of rocks. There was no other way through the fork. Dead bodies littered the floor, but it wasn't hard to find Andi lying near the left path. Justin, Cassie, and Rob emerged from the right path.

"Oh…my…god…" Cassie said, examining the room. She examined the pile of rocks blocking their path. "At least we don't have any more paths to choose from…"

"Don't worry, we won't go back through that tunnel," Rob said, shaking Andi's body. "C'mon, wake up, Andi…"

A few minutes later, Andi began to stir. The three let out a sigh of relief and when Andi looked at Rob, she began to freak out. "Oh, no…no, no, no! Not you! I thought we finally got rid of you!" She tried to stand up, but the pain in her leg forced her to stay down.

Rob tried to calm her. "Don't worry! I'm here to help. In fact, you're all in danger just being here…I knew this would happen…uh, look…"

"No!" Andi held up her right arm and tried to hit Rob. Rob swatted the meek attack and grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Andrea! Calm down! I'm here to help you this time!"

Andi still didn't believe him and was struggling with all her might to get out of his grip. Rob looked at her bleeding arm and held his hand over the scar. As Andi continued to struggle, Rob stared deeply into her eyes. Within a minute he finally let go and took a step back.

Andi glared at him and then looked down at her arm. It was completely healed. "What the…?"

"C'mon, Andi, we don't have time to play games. Now, let's get back to the surface, everyone's waiting."

---------

Zack buried himself in a heap of gold coins to hide himself from the dragon. 'Some leader I am,' he thought to himself. 'Hiding in a bunch of gold from a dragon…yeah, a huge, freakin' dragon.'

After hiding for what seemed like half an hour, Zack decided to see what the dragon was up to. He sat up and looked around, but the dragon wasn't there. "What the heck? He isn't even here…" He stood up, gripping his P-90 tightly. "Where'd he go?" The cavern was too quiet for Zack, yet there was a nice sunroof that didn't seem to be there before…

"Aw, he got away," Zack said to himself. "That's probably what that loud explosion and shaking was…"

At that moment, Rob appeared next to him, causing Zack to jump. "Whoa! Holy crap! Would you quit doing that?!"

Rob smiled. "Sorry. Look, everyone's outside. They're all waiting for you, even your parents."

Zack stared at Rob. "My parents…they're safe?"

"Of course! Cloud has been watching over them."

Zack let out a sigh of relief. "That's good. Deep down, I've been worried about them."

Rob crossed his arms across his chest. "It was all a mind trick, Zack," he explained. "Marsilio's been playing you from the beginning and I believe he's up to no good on Earth."

Zack cursed. "You tell me this now?! That tricky son of a bitch! Dammit!"

"We've also been unable to locate Jacob," Rob went on. Zack gaped at him. "Apparently, he began transforming into a werewolf while the others were escaping. I'm afraid we're gonna hafta leave him."

Zack shook his head. "No! Hell no! There's no way I'm leaving without Jacob!" Rob shrugged his shoulders. "Look, if you all want to leave, fine!" He dug into his pocket and took out the remote control. He tossed it to Rob.

"You're not coming?" Rob asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Jacob's my brother. I can't just leave him because he turned into a werewolf!"

"That's understandable, Zack," Rob said with a nod. "I will let everyone know you'll be staying behind."

"Thanks," Zack said. He held out his hand. "You know, you're not a bad person after all." Rob smiled and shook Zack's hand, shocking him. Zack immediately jerked his hand back.

"Couldn't help it," Rob said, an ear to ear grin covering his face. He held up his hand, revealing a joy buzzer that Zack swore wasn't there a minute ago.

"How do you do it?" Zack asked, rubbing his hand.

Rob tossed the remote back to Zack and he looked at Rob with a confused look. "Just keep it with ya. I have my own ways of returning everyone back to Earth."